Debunking the Laziness Lie

Laetitia@Work #53

Hi everyone,

The word “lazy” is often used as an insult. I would certainly not want my clients or colleagues to call me that. But I use it against myself: deep down, I blame myself for being lazy when I’m unable to meet the high expectations that I set for myself. The word is a tool used to dismiss other people’s problems as well as a means of self-flagellation. It’s mean and it’s useless. So shouldn’t we stop using that word? Shouldn’t we start thinking differently?

For Devon Price, social psychologist and author of the book Laziness Does Not Exist (Simon & Schuster, 2021), it’s all part of a toxic ideology designed to make us work ourselves to death. Convinced that we never do enough and that our value is determined by our productivity, or rather by how exhausted we are, we forget to listen to our bodies and minds. In his book, Price explains that the Laziness Lie is hurting us and it’s high time we debunked it. 

Laziness isn’t a moral failing or a weak personality trait. It’s a signal that we ought to pay attention to. It can signal physical or cognitive exhaustion, in which case feeling lazy means we just need rest. Or it can signal depression or difficult life circumstances. Last but not least, it can mean the work deal you’re offered isn’t acceptable because it doesn’t allow for a decent life.

I wish I had thought of debunking the Laziness Lie in my last book. So I’ll devote this newsletter to Devon Price’s analysis of it.👇💡

The Laziness Lie came with the Puritans and was exploited by industrial capitalism

Our work rhythms have varied greatly throughout history, depending on the prevailing economic, social and cultural context. What was seen as “lazy” in the 19th century would have been considered “industrious” in the late 20th. It took labour unions and a lot of struggles to not work all the time anymore. Workers became more productive through technological progress and fought to work less, rest more and live longer.

👉 Also read How much rest do we really need. Laetitia@Work #52

It would be absurd to blame a sloth or a cat for being “lazy”. So why do we judge humans so differently? This is the central question in Devon Price's book, which analyses the laziness lie and the underlying ideology in the light of American history: 

The laziness lie is deeply embedded in the very foundation of the United States. The value of hard work and the evils of sloth are baked into our national myths and our shared value system. Thanks to the legacies of imperialism and slavery, as well as the ongoing influence that the United States exerts on its trade partners, the Laziness Lie has managed to spread its tendrils into almost every country and culture on the planet. (Devon Price)

The word lazy entered the English language in the 16th century together with Puritan ideology. For the Puritans, God will only save the chosen few. People who work hard are likely to be among the "chosen few". But whether you’re chosen or not you’d better work hard to signal to others that you're chosen. The lazy are lost and nobody can do anything for them.

In the American colonies, the economy was largely based on slave labour. Puritan ideology was convenient in forcing them to behave: 

It was very important to the colonies’ wealthy and enslaving class that they find a way to motivate enslaved people to work hard, despite the fact that enslaved people had nothing to gain from it. One powerful way to do so was through religious teachings and indoctrination. A productivity-obsessed form of Christianity evolved from the older, more Puritanical idea that work improved moral character, and it was pushed on enslaved people. This form of Christianity taught that suffering was morally righteous and that slaves would be rewarded in Heaven for being docile, agreeable, and, most important, diligent. (Devon Price)

Religious indoctrination was convenient for the slave owners. If you won’t offer workers any reward here on earth, then convince them they’ll get something in the afterlife provided they are obedient, docile, and work very, very hard. 

It’s high time we debunked the Laziness Lie because it’s hurting us all

For Devon Price, the ideology supporting the Laziness Lie did not disappear with the (relative) decline of Puritan Christianity. It has evolved and emancipated itself from its Christian foundations. Industrial capitalism thrived on it: after all, if you can convince workers that it is morally wrong to rest, you'll have cheap workers to keep the factories running at lower cost.

👉 Also read Adios productivity. Laetitia@Work #46

Most of us spend the majority of our days feeling tired, overwhelmed, and disappointed in ourselves, certain we’ve come up short. No matter how much we’ve accomplished or how hard we’ve worked, we never believe  we’ve done enough to feel satisfied or at peace. Through all the burnout, stress-related illnesses, and sleep-deprived weeks we endure, we remain convinced that having limitations makes us “lazy”—and that laziness is always a bad thing. (Devon Price)

It is easy to understand that the very notion of laziness represents the point of view of those who need workers to run their factories. But why do we apply it to ourselves all the time? Because we are conditioned, explains the author. The Laziness Lie has crept in everywhere and it does us a lot of harm: it tells us that every sign of weakness is suspect, that we should never listen to our bodies and that illness is no excuse. In other words, it teaches us to fear and hate our most basic human needs.

Instead we should understand laziness as a powerful signal that says something important about those basic needs: it signals mental fatigue, dehydration, hunger, depressive symptoms... It’s a warning. If you can’t focus on a task, perhaps you should try doing something else. In fact “wasting time” is a most fundamental need. So if we can all find a way to learn to value laziness then perhaps we can learn to make work more sustainable for bodies, communities and planet.

The Laziness Lie is the source of the guilty feeling that we are not “doing enough”; it’s also the force that compels us to work ourselves to sickness. (...) Research on productivity, burnout, and mental health all suggest that the average workday is far too long, and that other commitments that we often think of as normal, such as a full course load at college or a commitment to weekly activism, are not sustainable for most people. (Devon Price)

👉 Also read The many benefits of parental laziness. Laetitia@Work #15

Becoming a better person

We’re not just hurting ourselves with the Laziness Lie. We’re hurting others with it. It has devastating social consequences We judge others with it. Social problems are thus reduced to personal shortcomings: for example, we have been taught to see homeless people as lazy, to believe that laziness is the root cause of their situation. Blaming people for their own suffering is in fact a convenient way to allow us to close our hearts and just ignore them.

Plus if you believe success to be solely determined by hard work and failure by laziness, then you can convince yourself the world is meritocratic. If you believe that people get what they deserve based on their individual merit, then you can believe that social programmes, education and healthcare don’t play that big a role. 

It makes us suspicious of other people, by framing social problems such as homelessness, drug addiction, and unemployment as being caused by personal failure, rather than systemic injustice.(...) For people who believe in the Laziness Lie, things like economic reform, legal protections for workers, and welfare programs seem unnecessary. (...) Research also shows that when we believe the world is fair and people get what they deserve, we’re less likely to support social welfare programs and have less sympathy for poor people and their needs. (Devon Price)

In short, the Laziness Lie a license to be selfish and ignorant. If a worker suddenly can’t get to work on time, call them “lazy” and you won’t need to look into their childcare difficulties, their losses, their inability to find housing near work and their health problems. But why not be curious instead and seek solutions that will help entire communities (like better childcare options)? Why not try to be better people by abandoning the Laziness Lie? For Devon Price, “the remedy for all this is boundless compassion”. I really couldn’t have said it better.

👉 My book (in 🇫🇷) deals with the many limits of productivity. You can order it online: En finir avec la productivité 📚

🎤 I recorded a podcast episode (in English) with Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan. Stay tuned for the 3rd season of the New Rules of Business from Chief, “the most powerful network of women executives”. “This season, they dig into complex leadership issues such as whether we can go too far in the pursuit of equity, the most damaging thinking traps for executives & what the future holds for leadership archetypes.” 🎧

💡Check out my articles published in English in Welcome to the Jungle. The most recent ones in 🇫🇷 include:

• La paresse n’a rien d’un défaut, c’est un signal à écouter (also about Devon Price’s book, in French)

• 8 méthodes pour (enfin) neutraliser les biais dans votre processus de recrutement

• Parentalité : pourquoi la semaine belge de 4 jours n'est pas le bon modèle

• Managers : comment soigner votre « paranoïa de la productivité » ?

• Carrière : 4 bonnes raisons de vous défaire (enfin) d'une vision linéaire

• « Le management, ça s’apprend »… Oui, mais comment ?

🎙️ Nouveau Départ: I’m excited about the last interviews I recorded 🎧

• Ce joyeux bazar de la double culture (with Alexia Sena)

• Boys Clubs vs Serial Girls (with Martine Delvaux)

• La revanche des musiciennes (with Marina Chiche)

• La revanche des autrices (with Julien Marsay)

Subscribe to receive our future podcasts directly in your inbox! (in 🇫🇷)

Miscellaneous

🎻 In a ‘Sea Change,’ Women of the Philharmonic Now Outnumber the Men, Javier C. Hernández, The New York Times, November 2022: “The Philharmonic has sought to play a role in promoting change, including by hiring more women as guest conductors in recent years and by commissioning works from 19 female composers to honor the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which barred states from denying women the right to vote. Some of its players have privately urged the Philharmonic’s leaders to select a woman to replace the orchestra’s outgoing music director, Jaap van Zweden, who is set to step down in 2024.”

🤔 Scientists Don’t Agree on What Causes Obesity, but They Know What Doesn’t, Julia Belluz, The New York Times, November 2022: “Instead of viewing obesity as a societal challenge, the individual choice bias dominates. It’s steeped with misunderstanding and blame, and it’s everywhere. People are simply told to eat more vegetables and exercise — the equivalent of tackling global warming by asking the public only to fly less or recycle. Diet gurus and companies mint billions off food and exercise fads that will ultimately fail.”

⌛ The Age of Social Media Is Ending, The Atlantic, Ian Bogost, November 2022: “As the original name suggested, social networking involved connecting, not publishing. By connecting your personal network of trusted contacts (or “strong ties,” as sociologists call them) to others’ such networks (via “weak ties”), you could surface a larger network of trusted contacts. (…) The whole idea of social networks was networking: building or deepening relationships, mostly with people you knew.”

If you are “feeling lazy”, perhaps it’s time to give yourself a break 🦥 🤗